NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In 2002, more than 5 million
older Americans had cognitive impairments that did not reach
the threshold for dementia, according to research findings
published in the Annals of Internal Medicine this week. These
impairments include some loss of memory and thinking ability.

The findings also indicate that about 12 percent of
individuals progress from cognitive impairment to dementia each
year.

"Cognitive impairment both with and without dementia can be
a problem in late life, but the number of individuals affected
by these conditions in the U.S. is unknown," Dr. Brenda
Plassman, from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North
Carolina, told Reuters Health.

In a study of 856 people age 71 years and older evaluated
between 2001 and 2003, Plassman's team found that 22 percent
had some cognitive impairment that did not reach the level of
dementia.

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Among 180 subjects with cognitive impairment without
dementia who were re-assessed 16-to-18 months later, 39 had
progressed to dementia.

Plassman's group estimates that in 2002, about 22.2 percent
(5.4 million) of individuals in the US age 71 years or older
had cognitive impairment without dementia and that the annual
rate of progression to dementia was 12 percent, as mentioned.

Plassman said her team is involved in many different types
of studies looking, for example, on "how cognitive impairment
with and without dementia affects families and the US health
care system -- so we will be able to see the true human and
economic costs of these conditions."

"Hopefully this research will also lead toward developing
interventions and treatments, so that cognitive impairment is
not one of the leading concerns in late life when our children
are in their 70's and 80's."